MILWAUKEE – The Marquette University women’s lacrosse team hung tight with No. 8 Georgetown for much of Friday afternoon’s contest at Valley Fields before the Hoyas pulled away for a 13-7 victory.

“I thought we played great this afternoon,” Marquette head coach Meredith Black said. “We started off a little nervous, which got us down a couple goals early. I think our defense made some huge stops and Sarah Priem had some great saves. We were able to control possession a little on attack, which is what our goal was coming into the game. The scoreboard doesn’t indicate a win, but we played well.”

The Golden Eagles (2-11), were led by two goals from redshirt freshman captain Emily Donovan, while Claire Costanza was Marquette’s points leader with a goal and a pair of helpers. It was a Costanza feed to Donovan that gave MU the first lead of the game at the 27:20 mark of the opening half.

Priem continued her excellent play in net of late with 10 saves, the third time in her last four games she has reached double digits in saves.

“Emily is amazing,” Black said. “Not only is she a captain for us, which says a lot about her character, but she works so hard and wants to succeed more than anyone. She puts in the time on the side to get better and has improved every single game. It shows in a game like today’s against Georgetown when she is able to come up with our leading amount of goals.”

The Hoyas (9-2), who will travel to Notre Dame to face the Irish on Sunday afternoon, received a hat trick from senior midfielder Sophia Thomas, while Dina Jackson, Corinne Etchison and Kelyn Freedman each added a pair of goals.

After Marquette opened up a 1-0 lead, Georgetown answered with three goals before Elizabeth Goslee pulled the Golden Eagles back to within one, 3-2, on a free position goal at the 14:23 mark of the first half.

The Hoyas built a 7-2 lead late in the first half before MU’s Emma Kern scored her third goal of the season on another free position shot just 30 seconds before halftime.

Emily Donovan added her second goal of the game and Nicole Gleason her lone marker midway through the second half after Georgetown lengthened its lead to 10-4.

Three more goals by the Hoyas gave GU a 13-6 lead with just under seven minutes remaining to put the game out of reach. Kenzie Brown added her team-leading 19th goal of the season for MU with just 53 seconds remaining.

Marquette connected on seven of its 10 shots on the afternoon for goals but was outshot 35-10 overall. The Golden Eagles also held an 11-6 advantage in ground balls in the first half before the Hoyas were able to corral 12 against MU’s three in the final frame.

The Golden Eagles return to action on Sunday, April 14 when they host Loyola Maryland at Valley Fields. Seniors Lisa Beltramello, Katie Bathon, Jacqueline Dubois and manager Chloe Johnson will be honored in a pregame ceremony Sunday, which is also Marquette’s Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Day.